The Working With Children Check

All people working with children under 18 years of age and all appointed leaders in the CRCA are required to have a current Working With Children Check (WWC Check/Blue Card). No person will be permitted to work with children under 18 or be an appointed leader in any CRCA ministry or activity without a current WWC Check.

APPOINTED Church leaders – Working with children check requirement

In all Australian States, legislation is in place to make sure Working With Children Check (WWC Check) are applicable to all staff and volunteers working with young people (less than 18 years old). For the purposes of the legislation a minister of religion is anyone ordained or appointed as a recognised religious leader in an organised religious institution or an appointed leader of a local religious organisation in an institution who has general authority over operations or some of the operations of the congregation in the institution.

Advice given to the Safe Church Unit during consultation with the State Government means that the broadened scope of the WWC Check will mean that the following people in the CRCA require a WWC Check in addition to those already holding a WWC Check due to participation in child-related activities:

  • Ministers – regardless of whether or not their congregation includes children
  • Elders and Deacons
  • Church Council Members
  • Appointed leaders of any ministry in the congregation – this includes music leaders, bible study leaders, Individuals with a Preaching License and specific ministry leaders (for example women’s ministry or English teaching ministry leaders) – regardless of whether or not their ministry area includes ministry to children.

The legislation is broad in nature and on advice the CRCA will err on the side of complete coverage. The message from government is that the WWC Check is the minimum standard and organisations should be careful to ensure that all appointed leaders have a WWC Check . The updated recommendation from the SCU is that all appointed leaders acquire a WWC Check regardless of whether or not their congregation has children attending. This is the most protective approach for leaders, the local church and the denomination.

In some states the WWC Check application form is now only available online. Please contact the Safe Church Unit via email or telephone with further queries or should any assistance be required. A link to the respective State Government WWC Check site is at the bottom of this page of this website. There is no cost for the check for all volunteers in the CRCA.

WHY DO I NEED A CHECK IF MY APPOINTED LEADERSHIP ROLE DOES NOT INVOLVE CHILDREN?

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have revealed two key areas of concern that the broadening of the WWC Check seeks to address:

  • The need to change culture from “Child sexual abuse could never happen in my church” to “Child sexual abuse can and does happen in churches and everyone needs to be mindful of preventing it and ready to report it”.
  • The need to remove “blocks” when a concern is raised with a leader in a church and that leader is either not mindful of the possibility of child sexual abuse occurring, perhaps even disbelieving about this or doesn’t believe it is their responsibility to take the concern further.

By legislating that all appointed leaders in churches and organisations have WWC Checks the state governments are seeking to both broaden awareness of child sexual abuse and assist individual leaders at all levels of church authority taking responsibility to report concerns, suspicions or known child sexual abuse.

Adding the local church to an existing Working with Children Check

Victoria: Where a person applying already has a current Working with Children Check they must add the congregation in which they are applying to volunteer in to their card record. This is done by visiting the Working with Children Check website and selecting ‘Update my details‘ on the (Victorian) home page.  This will be slightly different in some states.

Queensland: You need to register a person as a volunteer with your church at the Blue Card Organizational Portal website.

  • On the log in and verify page
  • Enter in your organisation’s username and password
  • Enter the code sent to your phone (two factor identification)
  • Select Blue Card Register tab (menu on left hand side)
  • Click on the CREATE LINK button (right hand side)
  • Enter the person’s Blue Card Number and Date of Birth (bottom half of the screen)
  • Click Search – details of the person will appear – verify and complete the linking

New South Wales:  You need to register a person as a volunteer with your church at the WWCC website on the “Employer” page.

  • On the Employer log in and verify page
  • Enter in your organisation’s username and password
  • Select Verify Working With Children Check status tab
  • Enter in a Volunteer’s family name, birth date, Working With Children Check number or Application number and click, Verify. This will generate a short report indicating the person’s status

Western Australia:  When a person already has a WWCC use this link to register the Card holder details for your church.

South Australia: When a person already has a WWCC use this link to register the Card holder details for your church. (Once you clicked on the link – scroll down to register card details).

Tasmania: When a person already has a WWVP use this link to register the Card holder details for your church.

Quick Links to Working With Children’s Checks:

QLD Blue Card Services   NSW WWCC   VIC WWCC   WA WWCC   SA WWCC   TAS WWVP   ACT WWVP